On Wednesday evening, NASA announced on social media that it is pushing back its Psyche asteroid launch due to poor weather.

The U.S. space agency said due to unfavorable "weather conditions,” both NASA and SpaceX are pushing back the launch to Friday at 10:19 a.m. ET.

When the launch does happen, NASA will be using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to send the spacecraft Psyche, named after the asteroid, from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A, both the space agency and space company confirmed.

After the stage separation, the two side boosters will land at SpaceX’s landing zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Which means sonic booms will be heard for miles around. The Falcon Heavy’s core center booster B1079 will be jettisoned into the Atlantic Ocean. This will be its first mission.

It will take six years for the spacecraft to reach the asteroid, which is far different from what most people think. Most people picture asteroids as being rocky, explained Dr. Robert Jedicke of the University of Hawai’I’s Institute for Astronomy.

“Psyche is one of the most massive metallic asteroids in the main asteroid belt, and is thought to be primarily composed of iron and nickel. This composition is distinct from most other asteroids, which are typically rocky or carbonaceous,” he explained to Spectrum News in an email. 

Breanna Fuss spoke with NASA SMD Associate Administrator Nicky Fox about why this mission matters and what the agency is hoping to find. Watch the interview above to hear what she had to say.

You can follow the progress of the mission at NASA.gov.